Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty

Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty

Developers
	Westwood Studios
Publishers
	Virgin Interactive
Release dates
DOS	1992

Dune
Dune	1992
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty	1992
Dune 2000	1998
Emperor: Battle for Dune	2001
Frank Herbert's Dune	2001
OpenRA (unofficial)	2010
Dune: Spice Wars	2023
Dune: Imperium	2024
Dune: Awakening	TBA

Key points

Released as Dune II: Battle for Arrakis in Europe.

General information

Dune Wiki - The Duniverse

Dune2K.com - A major Dune fansite with an active community

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Manual-based copy protection

Although a Dune II "demo" is available it is not actively playable; the executable more or less plays the missions out it's self without your intervention much like a pre-release demonstration video.

Version differences

The European version has a different title screen subtitle with its EU name and lacks the into voice over. These are minor aesthetic changes and can be changed back with this unofficial patch. Another similar patch that preserves the European title screen can be found here. Another minor graphical difference is that menus are not centered in the EU version; a hack to fix them can be found here. The European version also has additional languages.

Essential improvements

Patches

1.07 patch

Download link

Official patch which corrects issues with the Starport building. The European versions come pre-updated, making this unnecessary for it.

Sound fix

Download link

Official patch which enables the use of multiple sound devices simultaneously (i.e. MT-32 music with SoundBlaster digital and FM audio). A separate version for the European release can be found here.

1.07 patch fix

Download link

Changelog

Unofficial patch which corrects issues introduced and unfixed by the 1.07 patch. Includes the sound fix above, though still requires patch 1.07 to be applied first.

Gravis Drivers

Thread & download link

Unofficial patch that adds support for the Gravis Ultrasound to Dune II. Note that there are two versions of this driver available, one for real machines and another for DOSBox. Select the correct version for your setup.

Miscellaneous

EMCPatch adds some game improvements: buildings no longer decay for no reason, carryalls always bring repaired units from the repair facility back where they picked them up (you no longer need to surround the repair facility with walls for this), and missile turrets get always out-ranged by rocket launchers (previously, they had to be positioned at certain angles to get out of turrets' range). It requires WWPak to install, a version for SuperDune (and derivatives) can be found here.

REP-HI-FIX adds missing animation frames to the repair facility and Hi-Tech factory. Like the fix above it requires WWPak to install. A separate version with a faster heavy factory "production ended" animation can be found here.

Dune2Retro is a mod of the unpatched version of the game that adds fixes for the glitches but keeps the original balancing and other gameplay features. Also includes SuperDune2 (See below in fangames for details).

Dune II Mouse Helper

Enables more modern mouse controls: ordering units with the right mouse button, scrolling with the mouse wheel and building and placing structures with the middle mouse button.

Requires the original DOS game running in DOSBox under Windows.

Source ports

Full-featured ports which enable playing the game on modern systems (Windows/Linux). Support high-resolutions and widescreen. Employ modern interface with zooming, contemporary RTS controls and build queueing.

Include numerous bug fixes and optional gameplay enhancements.

Require original game assets (*.pak)

Name	Notes	Renderer
Dune Legacy	In active development, supports 64-bit and Mac OS X. Includes an optional upscaler to smooth out graphics. Introduces multiple difficulty levels for campaign mode and bot AIs for MP. Supports LAN and internet multiplayer with record/replay. Includes a map and scenario editor.	Direct3D
Dune Dynasty	Offers borderless fullscreen and proper MIDI support with custom SoundFonts for music playback. Contains a jukebox and cutscene viewer. Includes a random map generator for local "skirmish" mode.	Direct3D, OpenGL

More detailed lists of unfinished ports, as well as fan-made campaigns, can be found at: Dune II fangames, Custom maps and Dune II clones and remakes

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/row

System	Location

Save game data location

Template:Game data/row

System	Location

Video settings

General settings.

Audio settings

Localizations

Changing the active language requires you to re-run the entire setup precess through the setup.exe. If you find this annoying you can use the setuplan.exe which is a slimmed down setup program meant only for switching the active language.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				European version only.
German				European version only.
Spanish				Found in rare European versions only. Replaces French language in typical EU release.
Italian				Found in rare European versions only. Replaces German language in typical EU release.
Russian				Only available in Russian retail release. There are no official patches for this version leaving it at version 1. Unofficial patches to port newer patches can be found here.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		6	Use Dune Legacy
Online play		6	Use Dune Legacy

Issues fixed

Windows sound crash

Although Dune can run on older versions of Windows (without restarting in MS-DOS mode), sound corruption usually occurs followed by an eventual crash. This is due to some of the sound files being damaged and causing memory leaks.

Replace the sound files
Download this and replace the files.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DOS video modes	MCGA, VGA

System requirements

DOS
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	3.3
Processor (CPU)	Intel 80286
System memory (RAM)	640 KB 2 MB for digitized sound
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 MB
Video card (GPU)	VGA